


i'll give you my jacket, i'll give you my heart

by legendarylezbian



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Drabble, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-03 10:55:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20264509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legendarylezbian/pseuds/legendarylezbian
Summary: Ellie and Dina share clothes and maybe something more.





	i'll give you my jacket, i'll give you my heart

Ellie's love of flannel shirts has more to do with surviving in the cold than making any type of fashion statement. Warm, gentle cotton is the sensible thing to wear during an apocalypse, after all. She doesn't really put much thought into how it looks. Not until Dina stays in her room one night and asks to borrow one of her shirts to sleep in. A dark blue and black flannel that's particularly warm. And damn, does it look good on her. 

Ellie has a hard time falling asleep. She's looking over at Dina, the softness of her skin, the curves barely hidden under her shirt. Ellie's shirt. 

It becomes a thing. Dina keeps staying over, borrowing Ellie's clothes, and everyone else at the compound notices. Ellie hears the talk; she knows what they think. She doesn't acknowledge it, because Dina is clearly not interested in her like that, and they're friends, and Ellie has been here before. She doesn't want to risk liking someone only to lose them. 

Except, it's a little too late now. 

When Jesse asks Dina out, Ellie plays dead. Knows that it's best to be supportive, and plasters on a smile whenever she sees the two of them together. It becomes an on again, off again thing, and Ellie loses track of how many times they've broken up when winter comes around. 

"This is it," Dina decides, on the first of November. "We're breaking up for real this time."

Ellie has heard this before, and yet, a tiny seed of hope sprouts in her chest. She tries to obliterate it, but it is always there. It's annoying. 

"What did he do?"

"Nothing. He's just so...boring. There's no excitement or spontaneity with him."

Ellie raises an eyebrow. They're huddled on Dina's bunk under three blankets. Dina's lips are turning purple, and Ellie thinks about kissing them until they're warm. 

She brushes her own bangs aside and looks away for a moment. "Last time you broke up, you said you wanted some stability. Maybe Jesse just doesn't know what you want."

Dina sighs. "Well, now he knows what I don't want. I don't want to be smothered. Just because we all have to fight for our lives doesn't mean I need a man to protect me."

"Yeah," Ellie agrees. "I get that."

\----

By the next week, the temperature has dropped another twenty degrees. There are barely enough blankets to go around, and supplies in general are running low. Winter always brings up shitty memories for Ellie, but it's not all bad. Dina sleeps with her every night now, and if people didn't talk before, they're not even bothering to be discreet about it now. 

Joel never got around to giving her 'the talk' (thank all the fuckity-fuck-fucking heavens above) but around the middle of November, he catches Ellie in the mess hall shoveling stone cold beans into her mouth and wordlessly sits down across from her.  
She stops moving, and there's a splat as her beans fall back onto her plate. 

He grimaces, clearly uncomfortable as hell. "Kiddo," he begins. "I--uh...think we should talk about you and your--friend, Dina."

"What?"

"I know there's no risk of babies," Joel says, and his mouth attempts a smile, but it falls way short. He's practically vibrating, and Ellie still has no idea why he's so...

Oh, fuck no. She stands, deciding to go hungry for now. "There's no risk of anything because we're just friends," she says in a rush. "I know what people are saying, but you should have fucking asked me instead of just assuming."

Joel frowns at her. "People are talking about you two?"

"Only for the past month," she shoots back. "You really didn't know?"

"No," Joel replies, more relaxed now. "I have a working pair of eyes, kiddo. I see how you two are together. She's living with you now, right? And she's wearing your favorite shirt as we speak. I figured she had to be special to you to get that honor."

"We're not living together," Ellie sputters, because that feels like the only safe thing to say. "She's just been staying over because she just broke up with her boyfriend."

Ellie can tell Joel doesn't believe her.


End file.
